


Never Let Me Go (previously Bubblegum and Kisses)

by whisperingmusic



Category: Free!
Genre: Chapter 1 is solely Nagisa/Rei, First Kiss, Fluff, I got way into writing this, M/M, So fluffy I developed cavities, They're not together -yet-, awkward teenagers, eventual angst, otp prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 22:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4197555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whisperingmusic/pseuds/whisperingmusic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a Friday night, and Nagisa and Rei have nowhere to be. Rei decides to take a detour to downtown Iwatobi. Nagisa wants to buy more candy. Fluffiness and (very slight) dorky teenage angst involving strawberry bubblegum ensues. (Summary and tags will change as more chapters are added)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Let Me Go (previously Bubblegum and Kisses)

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a one-shot based in a universe that I was comfortable forgetting about, but I felt the need to write more and found a prompt that could add some precious angst to Bubblegum and Kisses. 
> 
> Second chapter will be added in the next few days (not sure how long this is going to turn out, but enjoy the ride!).
> 
>  
> 
> _~Comments, positive/negative/criticism (constructive or otherwise), are greatly appreciated!!~_
> 
>  
> 
> First chapter is based on a prompt I found over 3 weeks ago and had 0 motivation to write. I was at work the other day and felt the complete urge to write, and here we are, at 2:00 in the morning, with a 6 page Word document.
> 
> Time period is the spring of Nagisa and Rei's second year.
> 
> Fun fact (and the link to the prompt I used) at the end! Enjoy my first fanfiction! 
> 
> Shout-out to my good friend Lady_Spindle for encouraging (cough cough forcing cough cough) me to write this! :D

On the way to the train station after swim practice, Rei listened to the comfortable noise of Nagisa talking nonstop and watched the blonde make silly hand gestures to emphasize exciting parts of his stories. It was a chilly spring afternoon and the sun was setting soon. Rei smiled fondly at his friend before turning his attention to the familiar houses that they passed going to the train station after every practice. By Rei’s calculations, they were about ten minutes from their destination, and he felt an odd sense of panic shoot through his chest as he realized he only had twenty-ish minutes left with Nagisa before they separated until Sunday.

In order to continue their comfortable walk, Rei decided to take a little detour downtown. Instead of continuing straight down the sidewalk, Rei turned down a different street, cutting in front of and to the right of Nagisa so that the blonde would follow.

Not once did Nagisa stop his story or seem to care that they changed directions.

After a few minutes of walking down this new path and observing the change of scenery, the bluenette glanced to his right to see if his friend had noticed and smiled very slightly when Nagisa acted as if they were still heading to the train station. It wasn’t until the downtown shops came into view that the blonde slowed his pace, wearing a slightly confused expression.

Nagisa finally came to a full stop, eyes narrowed and a crease between his eyebrows, and turned to Rei. “Rei-chan, when did we go this way? We’re another 15 minutes from the train station! We’re gonna miss our train!”

“I know, Nagisa-kun. However, it’s Friday and we have next week off school, so I figured you’d want to begin your break by relaxing,” Rei replied confidently, turning his head and adjusting his glasses so that Nagisa couldn’t see how quickly his neck and face were reddening.

Nagisa could feel his heartbeat speed up in joy and happily said, “Okay, Rei-chan! Lead the way!”

The smile that spread across the blonde’s face warmed Rei’s heart even more, and he quickly cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses again before walking.

Nagisa skipped ahead on the sidewalk, seemingly energized, and twirled around to face the bluenette. He somehow managed not falling and stopped again, facing Rei and craning his head to watch his friend. Rei was unnerved that the blonde was watching him so curiously and intently. Nagisa hadn’t said a word, but he hadn’t lost his smile, making Rei’s heart nervously speed up. The bluenette adjusted his glasses and, once he caught up to Nagisa, broke the silence.

“Nagisa-kun, where would you like to go? Based on the placement of that gray-ish house, we should be about 5 minutes from the bookstore—”

“Can we go to the candy shop? Please, Rei-chan?” The pleading look Nagisa gave his friend melted any annoyance Rei could have felt. The bluenette simply nodded in response, and Nagisa gave a “whoop!” before turning his back to his friend and running toward the brightly-colored shops. Rei could only sigh affectionately before running after the blond, calling out a quick “Be careful, Nagisa-kun, or you’ll be too tired to eat properly!”

 

* * *

  

(For reference purposes, [**here**](http://i.imgur.com/PoUJHUd.png?1) are blueprints of the candy shop)

The high-pitched chime of the bell above the candy shop’s door announced Rei and Nagisa’s arrival. The blonde ball of energy instantly took off toward the aisle with strawberry candies while Rei explored the front of the shop. The shop itself only had two aisles running the length of the store. The only register was at a counter that ran parallel to the aisles and was on the right side of the store.

As Rei continued inspecting different colorful displays, he found a display with small baskets of different candies. On the top was a basket of individually wrapped pieces of bubblegum in a variety of flavors. Rei smiled as he found several pieces of strawberry-flavored gum and decided to buy them for Nagisa.

Rei bought his little handful of gum from the older lady at the register and turned to find Nagisa. The blonde had found a bag of small strawberry candies that he asked Rei for, and Rei didn’t have it in him to say no to the blonde’s sparkling smile. As Rei held both bags, the boys waved goodbye to the cashier and made their way back toward the train station, a comfortable silence falling between them.

“Hey, Rei-chan, what did you buy?” Nagisa asked, glancing sideways at the small bag Rei was holding.

“O-oh, uh, nothing really, just some bubblegum that I found.” Rei didn’t mention that it was all for Nagisa.

“Really? I never really liked gum.”

Shocked, Rei turned toward his friend and was surprised to see Nagisa frowning ever so slightly, as if the thought of gum upset him.

Rei coughed and fixed his glasses higher on his nose before breaking the silence again.

“W-well, you know, gum is almost purely sugar, but it’s fascinating to blow bubbles with. That is, until the bubble pops very disgustingly all over one’s face, which is not beautiful at all—” Rei was in the midst of speaking quickly and nervously when Nagisa cut him off abruptly.

“Blowing bubbles with gum may be beautiful, but someone who can’t do such a simple trick isn’t.”

Taken aback, Rei stopped walking and looked at Nagisa, who had continued walking a few steps before stopping. The bluenette looked around almost dazedly, not knowing how they had reached the train station so soon. In silence they boarded the empty train and sat next to each other. It wasn’t until the train started moving that Rei decided to take action.

Rei quietly reached into his bag of gum and pulled out two pieces. Quickly he unwrapped one and stuck it in his mouth, chewing carefully but determinedly. He glanced in the corner of his eye and saw Nagisa watching him with one eyebrow raised, as if Rei was acting strange. Rei refocused on his task and began blowing a bubble. It grew to the size of a dime before popping quietly. At this Nagisa snorted softly in laughter but turned away when Rei faced him. Confused, Rei chewed his gum in silence for a few seconds before putting his hand out and offering his second piece of gum to his friend.

Nagisa looked almost offended at the small piece of gum and turned away again. This time, Rei nudged his shoulder and reoffered the piece. Nagisa looked at the bluenette’s almost pleading face and snatched the piece away, unwrapping the piece and throwing it into his mouth in a matter of seconds. He rested his arms across his chest and was chewing with a frown, as if he had to destroy the offending piece of gum as fast as possible. Minutes passed before Rei cocked an eyebrow at the blonde, as if asking silently, “Are you going to blow a bubble?” Looking frustrated, Nagisa gave in and started his attempt.

To say Nagisa failed would be an understatement. Every time he tried to blow a bubble, it would either break apart across his tongue while he was beginning to blow or would start to form a bubble before popping right as it passed outside of his mouth. Rei watched the blonde’s continuous frustrated attempts before resting a hand on his shoulder. Nagisa instantly tensed up and turned away with a huff, puffing his cheeks out in an annoyed pout. The rest of their ride continued in silence.

When the two got off at the same stop, Rei turned to Nagisa and spoke.

“Are we still meeting at my apartment on Sunday to study?”

“I don’t know,” Nagisa replied somewhat bitterly, “Are you gonna throw the gum away?”

Rei sighed. “You do realize that I bought the gum for you, right?”

At this the blonde turned to the bluenette in surprise. Rei continued nervously, pushing his glasses up, “Did you not taste the flavor? Granted, it was rather lacking in actual flavor since it’s gum, but I believe it was a decent attempt at strawberry.” Nagisa simply looked at Rei, and each second that passed left Rei with a nervous tingle in his chest. He cleared his throat and readjusted his glasses before saying goodbye and awkwardly turning away from his friend. Nagisa stood there for a few seconds longer, watching Rei’s stiff back move farther away, before calling out a nervous, “See you on Sunday!” The blonde watched as Rei’s back relaxed slightly and he turned to wave at Nagisa before continuing his trek home. Nagisa sighed, rubbing a hand tiredly across his face, and cursed the inventor of gum.

 

* * *

 

 Sunday came faster than either of them expected. They had texted back and forth the previous night, Nagisa poking fun at Rei with an abundance of new emojis, but they had both fallen asleep in their respective homes peacefully and with smiles across their faces. Now that Sunday was here, Nagisa internally groaned that he would have to actually get most of his homework done before his parents let him go to swim practice on Monday. His trip to Rei’s apartment was uneventful and boring, but halfway there he remembered that Rei still had the strawberry candies and gum from Friday. Freshly energized at the prospect of sugar, the blonde practically sprinted to Rei’s once he got off the train and away from the crowds.

Out of breath, Nagisa took a few minutes to relax outside of Rei’s apartment. It was a nice, sunny day, which made Nagisa take a minute to lament how he had to spend it inside working. Finally the blonde knocked and was ushered in by Rei, who explained quickly that his parents were working today. They made their way to Rei’s room in silence, and Nagisa stopped in the doorway to examine the objects on the short table in the room.

There were two piles of strawberry-flavored candies. One was made of Rei’s gum, and the other was the candies that Nagisa had picked out. Rei had sat down on the other side of the table, back arched slightly and arms crossed over his chest as he proudly watched Nagisa’s reaction.

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa slowly said, confusion apparent on his face, “What’s going on?”

“I have found the perfect solution to your homework troubles, Nagisa-kun!” Rei proudly stated.

“Oh…kay…and what exactly is your ‘solution’?”

Rei uncrossed his arms and gestured with one hand toward the bubblegum pile. “Every time you are able to blow a bubble with one piece of bubblegum,” Rei pulled his hand back and gestured toward the strawberry candy pile, “you will receive one of these candies. Of course, after you have received one piece of bubblegum and one candy, you must complete one homework problem.” The proud and happy expression Rei wore was enough to curb Nagisa’s impending groan and the blonde accepted his friend’s challenge with a happy, “‘kay.”

As Nagisa sat down across from Rei, the bluenette’s surprised expression turned to one of joy once he realized that the blonde wasn’t going to complain (for now). A few seconds passed in silence before Nagisa spoke up.

“Okay, Rei-chan, what part do we start at? Homework or bubblegum?”

Rei looked bewildered, as if he hadn’t thought past getting the blonde to accept his proposal.

“W-well, Nagisa-kun, uh, I suppose blowing a bubble is step one. I’ll even show you how to do it properly, I was up all night studying the theory!”

Nagisa couldn’t help but giggle at how dorky Rei looked pushing up his glasses confidently. Once the bluenette was finished, he plucked a piece from the bubblegum pile, carefully unwrapped it, and began the task of chewing. Nagisa’s focused gaze caught Rei off guard slightly, causing him to turn away until his gum was “fully prepared for blowing.”

When Rei finally started to blow his bubble, he did it slowly and cautiously. His bubble reached the size of a quarter this time before exploding all over his mouth. Nagisa burst out laughing at Rei’s shocked expression and gum-covered mouth, falling onto his side on the floor. Rei couldn’t help but join in the contagious laughter, and it took them a few minutes to calm down. Once they did, however, Nagisa looked almost annoyed at Rei, staring at him intently again but with a slight frown.

“Uh, N-nagisa-kun, do I still have gum on my face?”

Nagisa shook his head and said, “I just don’t understand.”

“Shall I recreate my previous demonstration? It is imperative for you to see the theory in practice before—”

“No, no, that’s not it, Rei-chan.”

“Then what is troubling you, Nagisa-kun?”

At this an awkward silence filled the room as both boys simply looked at each other, Rei’s expression full of concern while Nagisa looked frustrated.

Nagisa spoke first, a pout forming as he talked. “It’s just not fair, how come you, a complete nerd and dork, can blow a perfect, large bubble while I can’t even make a small one? I don’t understand it.” The blonde shook his head slowly at the end of his words.

Rei ignored the “complete nerd and dork” part and replied, saying, “You just need to get the theory down, Nagisa-kun. It took me years to learn how to do what you did, and many more to get where I am now. Here, try again.”

Nagisa sighed in defeat as he took the gum that Rei had in his outstretched hand. He crossed his arms in fake anger, chewed longer this time than he had on Friday, and focused on Rei’s encouraging expression.

When he decided his gum was ready, he took his time wrapping the gum around the front of his tongue and blew softly, creating a small bubble that actually formed past his lips. Once he realized that he had _actually formed a bubble_ , Nagisa gleefully looked up, bouncing slightly as he sat, and took in Rei’s surprised expression. The blonde started over again, encouraged by his friend’s smile, and failed at his attempt. He took his time on the third try, earning himself another small, but fully-formed, bubble.

Nagisa was in his own joyful world, blowing bubbles over and over again, getting more and more excited as the bubbles grew in size. He was completely oblivious to Rei watching him and the bluenette’s affectionate smile, which grew every time the blonde succeeded. Rei almost couldn’t stand how adorably energetic and excited Nagisa was over something as silly as blowing small bubbles with cheap bubblegum, and he found himself relaxing and focusing completely on his friend.

Finally, Rei’s poor heart had had enough cuteness for one week, thank you very much, but his brain didn’t seem to be operating on a sane level. Nagisa was so focused on blowing another bubble that he didn’t notice Rei moving towards him, didn’t realize until it was too late that Rei’s face was an inch away from his, getting closer. It wasn’t until the blonde’s bubble popped and he felt something new on his lips that he spared a glance up, watching as Rei, now a complete blushing mess, pulled away and excused himself. Nagisa simply sat there, also a blushing mess, and fully realized that Rei had just kissed him. _Rei had just kissed him_. He scrambled to get up, bumping his hip painfully into the table and knocking over the two piles of candy, and rushed after the bluenette, demanding that Rei continue what he started.

**Author's Note:**

> I may eventually write 3 other prompts that I have saved from otpprompts, but for now, come fangirl with me over Reigisa/NagiRei on tumblr: http://whispering-music.tumblr.com/
> 
> Prompt: http://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/120455670721/person-a-of-your-otp-loves-sweets-but-has-always
> 
> (For those who don't want to click the link:)  
> "Person A of your OTP loves sweets but has always had the hardest time blowing bubbles with their chewing gum. Person B is a pro at it and shows it off whenever they have gum on hand, making Person A very jealous. One day they sit Person A down to try and show them. After every failed attempt, Person A finally manages to blow a bubble, a small one but a bubble nonetheless. They get so excited they keep trying until they blow another one, oblivious to Person B'a watching them, thinking how cute they are getting excited over something like blowing a bubble. During one of their attempts at blowing another, Person A is caught off guard when Person B gives them a quick peck on the lips making them a blushy mess. "
> 
> FUN FACT~  
> When I was trying to describe Nagisa failing at blowing a bubble, I couldn't imagine it at first. I'm a very visual person, so I had to ask my brother where our gum was, grabbed 4 pieces of some sugar-free, "made from beeswax" bubblegum that NO ONE would EVER be able to blow bubbles with, sat in front of my computer, and continuously failed at blowing bubbles in order to recreate the scene I had in mind.


End file.
